藏匿在城市中的“马路杀手” An urban sprawl we can all do without

Surely, whichever sage coined the old Irish blessing, “May the road rise up to meet you,” did not foresee the cursed way those words would apply today in Beijing, where not so much the roads, but the sidewalks alongside them, are conducting an uprising.

忆盛唐，李太白倾倒于蜀道逶迤，后著《蜀道难》。看今朝，青莲居士若得以一观京路之险恶，必诗兴大发而作《京路险》。“噫吁嚱！京途猛于虎也！”

The capital city’s woefully deteriorating walkways are prone to buckling, cracking and crumbling, putting countless pedestrians in danger of tripping and, in the worst-case scenario, doing a face-plant on the pavement.

北京贵为一国之都，其道路质量却实在令人忧心。路面塌陷、龟裂乃至坍塌等现象均不鲜见。行人极易绊倒，运气极差的甚至会来个倒栽葱。

I discovered this hazard firsthand recently during a night run through my neighborhood. Nighttime, after all, is safer for jogging than daytime, right? Most of the reckless drivers, scooter pilots and bat-out-of-hell couriers have retired to their homes by then.

有一次，我在家附近夜跑时不幸亲自尝到了北京人行道的厉害。在此之前，我一直认为夜晚跑步比白天安全很多。毕竟在白天的马路上，汽车恣意驰骋，摩托马达轰鸣，快递员更是分秒必争，仿佛在与死神赛跑。夜幕降临则意味着这些危险制造者大多已经回家了。

On this night, however, the errant sidewalks, abetted by the city’s paucity of streetlights, conspired against me. It took just one of these miscreant bricks, jutting skyward but hidden in shadow, to catch the toe of my running shoe as I quickly passed over it.

而那天晚上，一切都透着不详的征兆。在曲折的人行道上跑步已经是难事一桩，偏偏街灯又昏暗得很。人行道上一块砖头直指苍穹，蛰伏在黑暗中守株待兔。我的脚在跑步时擦到了它，因此沦为了它的手下败将。

In a split second I was airborne, though my childhood judo training saved me as I instinctively executed a break-fall, my arms sacrificing themselves so I could quite literally save face. The unexpected sprawl left huge scrapes, now scars, on both elbows.

说时迟，那时快，我腾空飞起复又跌落。所幸儿时练过柔道，摔下时便下意识使出一招护身倒法，用双臂护住脸部。因此在这场无妄之灾中，我的双肘严重擦伤，疤痕至今未褪。

Granted, I’m no construction expert. But when I was a child, my siblings and I assisted Dad in setting the forms for, mixing, pouring and leveling enough concrete for a patio of around 90 square meters, as well as a lengthy sidewalk leading to it. Four decades later, it’s still intact.

我确实不算什么建筑专家。不过我曾在幼时和兄弟姐妹一起协助父亲制备混凝土，然后浇筑制模，最后抹平地面。90平米的露台就此完工，通往露台的幽长小道也一并落成。如今四十年过去，地面依旧完好无损。

The same cannot be said for Beijing’s unsafe sidewalks, which, rather than being constructed of concrete, are pieced together brick by brick, like a massive jigsaw puzzle. The bricks are then “secured” by a dirt mixture that’s filled in around them to supposedly hold them in place. But in many cases, the filler has been washed away by rain or eroded by strong winds. The bricks are subsequently broken, kicked loose or removed, or they simply stand perilously on end.

而北京道路质量则显得相形见绌。这里的人行道由砖块堆砌而成，仿佛在玩一盘规模宏大的拼图游戏。砖块摆放完成后，用泥土混合物“固定”，填补缝隙，使其成为一体。然而填充物饱受风吹雨淋，因此砖块往往暴露在外，继而在千万次踩踏下发生破损、松动、缺失，或是干脆竖立在地面上，形成安全隐患。

To make things worse, huge stretches of sidewalk that have been replaced recently, using the same method, seem particularly prone to quick deterioration, giving way like so many loose teeth. Alarmingly, even the yellow stone guideways, embedded in the sidewalks for cane-using blind or eyesight-impaired pedestrians, are in some places broken, heaving or twisted.

大片受损路段得到修缮，手法与修建时相同。然而新修路面的质量问题尤甚，很快人行道上便一副破败景象，缺损的砖块比比皆是。镶嵌在人行道中央的黄色盲道专为方便盲人及视障人士出行而修建，可部分地区的盲道竟也崎岖蜿蜒，时有破损，这可不是个好兆头。

How many stubbed toes, twisted ankles or broken wrists — and let’s face it, falls are particularly dangerous for the elderly or infirm — are needed before the city wakes up to this danger underfoot?

政府何时能对人脚下的危险有所察觉？在此之前，又不知有多少行人要付出血的代价。其中对于老弱病残来说，一次摔倒可能会对他们造成生命危险。

Maybe the producers of these tricky bricks are making a mint, but as the city continues to grow and becomes ever more modern, this outdated mode of construction increasingly looks like a temporary fix.

低质量砖块的生产厂商固然赚得盆满钵满，可如今城市的面积和现代化程度都日益增长，这种过时的施工套路愈发像是某种权宜之计，无法解决根本危机。

The trouble is, this stop-gap measure leaves step gaps, which, even in broad daylight, lie in wait for hapless passers-by.

奈何“船到江心补漏迟。”政府不停地修修补补，可路面破损问题反而更加严重。这些“马路杀手”总是静静地等待着下一个倒霉蛋，无论日与夜。